


Freckles

by Guanin



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Asexual Character, Asexual Newt Scamander, Asexual Percival Graves, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 03:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9638936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guanin/pseuds/Guanin
Summary: That time when Percival noticed Newt's freckles and told him that he liked them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is a light story, I decided that, in this universe, that whole Grindelwald thing never happened.

It was a Monday when Percival noticed the freckles. They were everywhere, a smattering of color spread across Newt’s nose and cheeks. Percival hadn’t made a close study of Newt’s face in the weeks that Newt had worked at MACUSA after transferring from London (except to notice the warmth of his smile and the prettiness of his eyes), but he ran into him enough to notice that there had been no such freckles on his skin at any time before today. Had he spent a lot of time in the sun this weekend? Had that brought them out? No, they were too prominent, like someone had speckled his face in the most delightful hue. It wasn’t like they had been faint before. They had not been visible, period. 

In his confusion, he had stared for a moment too long, for Newt looked down, shifting uncomfortably.

“Is there something on my face?” he asked, raising a hand to his mouth. “I had a hot dog for lunch. Perhaps some mustard got on me.”

“No. You’re fine. I apologize. Just, you look a little different than the last time I saw you.”

“Different how?”

“Well, um…” Merlin, this was awkward. “You have freckles. I’d never seen them before.”

Newt’s eyes widened a fraction.

“Oh. I… Yes. I usually cover them up with a concealment charm. I was in a rush this morning. I must have forgotten.”

“Why do you cover them up?”

Newt glanced away again.

“They are rather prominent. It’s been a habit since school.”

“Well, I think you look great.” Fine. Damn it, he’d meant to say fine. “This whole disdain for freckles that some people have is a bunch of crap. I don’t mean to tell you what to do with your face. Do whatever you want, of course. It’s not my place to say. But you look perfectly fine.”

“Thank you.” 

Newt met his eyes for a moment, a gratified smile on his lips. A pretty smile. 

“You’re welcome. I’ll let you get on with your day, then.”

Percival started walking past. 

“I’ll see you later.”

````````````````````````````````````

Two days passed before Percival saw Newt again, this time at the small restaurant in the upper floors of MACUSA. Newt sat at a table by himself scribbling in a notebook, half a sandwich sitting forgotten before him. There they were again. The freckles. All over his face.

“Good afternoon,” Percival said, sidling up to the table.

Newt looked up, face brightening with pleasant surprise. 

“Good afternoon,” Newt said. “It’s nice to see you. Are you eating lunch?”

“I grabbed a sandwich.”

Percival showed him his wrapped roast beef. 

“Please, will you join me?”

“I don’t want to impose. You seem busy. I was just going to eat this at the office.”

“Not at all.” Newt tucked the notebook into his jacket pocket. “Just some notes. Although, if you’re busy, I don’t want to keep you from anything pressing.”

“No, nothing pressing. It can wait.”

He really did want to sit down. So he did. Why not?

“I hope you don’t mind me saying,” he said. “But I noticed that you didn’t use a concealment charm today.”

Newt grabbed his sandwich, holding it tentatively in his hands.

“No. I thought about what you said and you’re right. It’s not necessary for me to keep it up. I don’t generally care what people think of me. Whether they find me strange or annoying.”

Annoying? Who found Newt annoying? Granted, he didn’t express or carry himself the way most people did and he said what he meant with little regard for whether he’d be agreed with or not, although always politely. There were plenty who didn’t like that. Fuck them. 

“It’s a bit silly of me to have carried on with the charm for so long,” Newt continued.

“Sometimes you fall into habits and don’t think about them.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

They moved on to other topics, like Newt’s determined quest to have the beast ban modified so that people could have at least some magical pets, culture clash moments he had experienced while in New York, and that time when Percival had almost gotten banned from Quality Quidditch Supplies on his one trip to London for arguing with a patron over the merits of Quodpot versus Quidditch (the other guy had started it).

Percival was sorry for the meal to end, but, finally, he had to get up from the table and return to work.

“It was nice seeing you,” he said as he buttoned his jacket.

“You, too. You know, I’ll be here again for lunch tomorrow if you want to continue our discussion on beast legislation.”

Percival smiled.

“I’d like that. I’ll see you then.”

````````````````````````````````

Percival met with Newt again the next day. And the next. The weekend came, and Percival found himself missing his lunches with Newt. The man was fascinating, charming (honestly, who the hell found him annoying?), and a wonderful conversational companion. He had the prettiest smile, too. And the way that his bangs slipped onto his forehead was absolutely captivating.

Perhaps… 

It didn’t quite feel like a coincidence that Newt had decided to drop a years-long habit only after Percival had told him that he looked great with his freckles. But what if he was misreading the situation and Newt wasn’t interested, after all? Maybe Percival had just given him a boost of confidence. What if asking him out made things too weird? He’d rather have Newt’s friendship than return to lonely lunches at his desk. In any case, even if Newt was interested, he’d probably want to have sex at some point, and Percival was done with that. He didn’t enjoy the activity, and it never worked out, anyway.

Yet Newt surprised him by being the one to ask. 

“There’s this jazz performance on Friday night,” Newt said on Wednesday. “Tina and Queenie are busy, and it’s always more enjoyable to go with someone, so I wondered if you might like to accompany me.”

“I would love to.”

“As friends, I mean.”

“Sure. That’s how I interpreted it.”

“Unless…” Newt looked away, hands tucked under the table. “I don’t know if you’d be interested…”

“Interested in what? Oh. You mean, a date?”

“Date?”

“A romantic outing. That’s what the No-Majs are calling it. The term’s gaining traction. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes. But only if you’re interested. I don’t want to make things awkward if you’re not. I’ve really enjoyed our lunches and I want to continue being your friend.”

“Me, too. I don’t want things to be awkward. I am interested.” Newt’s eyes lit up. “But there’s one thing I have to mention first.”

“Yes. Me, too. I didn’t want to simply blurt it out at the beginning.”

“What is it?”

“You can go first.”

“Well, I don’t have sex. I’d rather not, anyway. It doesn’t appeal to me. I’m ace. Asexual. I don’t know if you know what…”

But it was obvious that Newt knew exactly what that meant, because his eyes widened in surprise and a grin grew on his face. 

“Yes. I’m ace, too.”

Sweet Mercy Lewis.

“You are? That’s wonderful.” 

“I never expected you to be. This is the first time I randomly run into someone else like me.”

“I’ve only ever met two.”

“I’ve met more, but we have a group back in London.”

“That sounds great.”

“Yes, it’s quite nice. But in any case, since what I feared that we would disagree on we don’t actually disagree on at all… I also don’t have sex, either. Would you like to make this a date, as they say?”

“I would like that very much.”


End file.
